Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Abusing Timeouts Is Still Fair Game

The situation: Fresno State leads New Mexico State, 17-7, in the closing seconds of the first half of a 2005 game at Las Cruces. In an attempt to "ice" Bulldog kicker Clint Stitser, Aggie coach Hal Mumme calls three timeouts in a row.

It didn't work. Stitser made the kick and Fresno State rolled New Mexico State, 37-7, one of 12 Aggie losses that season.

This shenanigan of a coaching move — in particular the piggybacking of timeouts — has gone on too long.

But when the Football Rules Committee proposed ways to shorten games in February, it decided against taking action on this annoying tactic. We messaged Michael Clark, the chairman of the rules committee, to ask if there was any discussion about limiting the number of timeouts a coach could call in succession or if a ban on using timeouts in such situations was considered. Here is his response:

"It was discussed because there is a definite 'sportsmanship vs. gamesmanship' issue involved in a lot of these cases. However, the concept of a coach being able to call timeout from the sideline is something we were reluctant to take away. Remember the late timeout could be a double-edged sword [there were times when a kicker missed a kick and got a second chance that was successful] that did not get the same play as the Auburn-Florida situation we all saw.

"I could see someday where much like the NFL back-to-back timeouts are considered unsportsmanlike in these situations, but it was not something the committee felt needed to be addressed at this time."

Here is the end of last season's Auburn-Florida game referenced by Clark. Freshman kicker Wes Bynum booted the Tigers to a 20-17 victory after Urban Meyer tried the "ice" tactic by using his last timeout.